Cleric attributes corruption to neglect of cultural values

Pastor of Potters Gospel Mission, Mustard Idoko, has attributed the prevalent corruption and social vices among Nigerians to the neglect of cultural values.
Idoko, who stated this on Sunday during an interview with Nigerian Pilot in Abuja, also attributed the increasing rate of youth restiveness to loss of moral and lack of proper mentorship; “the kind of corrupt leaders we have today is because of poor mentorship.”
According to him, “the poor system of leadership is responsible for social vices among the youths that have led to the present security challenges.”
The pastor said the loss of morals stems from the abandonment of culture and traditions by Nigerians in preference for Western and Arabian cultures with dire consequences.
The cleric noted that culture and traditions of various ethnic nationalities that make up the country frown at corruption and disrespect for constituted authorities. Leaders need to lead by example, even as the younger generation who are leaders of tomorrow need to be mentored.
“Each time I think about Nigeria, I weep because of the level of corruption that is going on in the system, I often wonder the crop of leaders that the nation will have in the next 20 years.”
He regretted that positive norms and values had gone into extinction due to unwarranted ambitions and called on the government to constitutionally empower traditional institutions as custodians of culture because they are the closest authority to those at the grassroots.
The cleric urged religious leaders to live up to expectations by teaching the doctrine of the Bible to their members. “When you go round to take census, you will realise that most Nigerians are members of one church of mosque yet we have corruption looming in government offices, this goes to show that religious leaders are not doing their job well,” Idoko said.
He said such constitutional recognition would empower them with roles to enforce certain aspects of customs and tradition that promote values such as morality which is fast going into extinction.
He, however, urged other religious leaders to strive to unite their members to imbibe core values aimed at making them excellent citizens.